Do You Speak Swedish?
by organization-fan
Summary: "Almost, it's 'Berwald' with a 'd'. And a 'b'." Berwald Oxenstierna is a new exchange student from Sweden to Finland. When he arrives, he meets the one person he will ever want to marry. Too bad they don't quite understand each other. Translations are at the bottom.
1. Chapter 1

Berwald Oxenstierna, newly admitted exchange student from Sweden to Finland, stood awkwardly looking around the busy lobby. There were students streaming past him in every direction, but no one seemed to register him. It had said in the letter that somebody would be sent to show him around... hadn't it? The Swede was becoming unsure of whether he was in the right place or if he had just misunderstood. He was just on his way to check the letter again when he noticed someone standing a bit away; a short boy with light blonde hair. He was leaning his shoulder against a pillar and typing away at his phone. Berwald eyed the boy's jeans, shirt, shoes and bracelets a bit judgementally. None of it matched. He glanced around briefly before deciding that he could at least go ask the boy if this was the right place. He seemed to be the most calm out of the people occupying the lobby. Berwald moved over to the boy, who didn't notice him even as he stopped right behind him. Berwald stood quietly for a while before clearing his throat, making the boy snap his eyes up from his phone with a violent start.

"Voi herranjumala!" the boy exclaimed and clutched at his chest. "Hyvänen aika, sinä oikeasti pelotti minua! Eli, et ole pelottavan näköinen, tai joo, olet _kovin_ pelottava. Mutta kaikki on hyvin kumpaakaan, olen varma, että se ei ollut tahallista. Se on tavallaan myös minun syytäni; aina unohdan, missä olen. Hei, en ole nähnyt sinua aiemmin, oletko uusi täällä? No, tietysti olet, sinulla on kaikki laukut mukaasi. Voi jumalauta! Minulla oli tarkoitus näyttää sinulle koulun! Olin täysin unohtanut sen! Anteeksi! Olen Tino, mikä sinun nimesi on?"

Berwald was left staring in awe at the boy. His almost platinum blonde bangs were swept to the right and his eyes were a unique violet that sparkled as he smiled up at the tall Swede. He was quite possibly, probably, _definitely_, the cutest thing Berwald had ever seen. The Swedish boy's heart began hammering in a strange rythm as he looked into the other boy's eyes. He knew that if there had ever been someone in this world that he would want to marry, it was this boy.

It took him a moment to realise the Finn had probably asked him a question, and that he did not understand a single word of what this beautiful person had just said.

The short Finn was starting to look a bit uncomfortable under the intense gaze Berwald wasn't really aware he had fixed on him. Berwald realised that he would have to break the silence somehow. But what does one say when you don't understand anything your beautiful, wonderful, perfect conversational partner says?

"... Pratar du svenska?" Good. Great. Really smooth, Berwald. That must be the most perfect way to start a relationship ever. No seriously, applause and rewards are in order for this revolutionary new way of flirting.

"... Ai, puhutko ruotsia?" The beautiful boy looked quite crestfallen and slowly lowered his uncertain gaze to his shoes. Berwald had never before felt such a strong urge to kick himself, or possibly throw himself through a window. He couldn't wait until someone asked him how he met his future wife. _"Oh, you know. He spoke to me in his native language, I spoke to him in mine; we didn't understand a thing. It was love at first sight."_ How stupid can you get?

"Uumm." The Finn slowly raised his eyes from his shoes, which Berwald couldn't help but notice matched his violet eyes. The smaller of the two drew a deep breath and seemed to try to make eye contact, but his eyes drifted to the side as he began speaking. "Uh, do you speak English?" Heavens be damned if his accent was not the cutest thing Berwald had ever heard. Once again it took him a couple seconds to realise he had been asked a question, only this time he understood and knew how to answer.

"Yes, I speak English." Yes, perfect, just make sure to be excessively clear so that the most beautiful person in the whole universe can't help but feel like an idiot. This is going swimmingly. Berwald's self derogatory thoughts came to an abrupt stop as the cute Finn practically beamed up at him with relief written all over his face.

"Oh, that's great! It would've been really awkward if you didn't. I mean, not that you're awkward to be around or anything, really, it would just have been..." The boy stopped and inhaled deeply, as if to calm himself down, and then seemed to backtrack in his mind. "I'm Tino Väinämöinen, what's your name?" Good Jesus that accent was so adorable it was going to kill him.

Berwald's thoughts were going haywire again, but he felt his mouth form the words out of habit. "Berwald Oxenstierna."

The cutie named Tino, what a beautiful name, tilted his head a little and made a concentrated face. "Pärvalt?" he asked hesitantly, obviously not sure how to pronounce the foreign name. Berwald should have figured as much.

"Almost, it's 'Berwald' with a 'd'. And a 'b'." He quickly added the second part and hoped that Tino hadn't noticed the unintentional reference. His hoping might have payed off, since Tino just nodded thoughtfully and made an even more concentrated face.

"Pärvalt?" he asked finally. He said the name slowly and seemed to put a lot of effort into the pronounciation, though it didn't make much of a difference from before. Maybe Finns didn't use 'b's and 'd's? Berwald honestly had no idea.

"Yes," he said instead. "That's it." Tino's face lit up and Berwald felt like the luckiest person in the world for getting to see that smile.

"So..." said Tino and gestured towards one of the corridors. "Shall we?"

* * *

Translations:

Finnish: Oh my God!

Finnish: Goodness gracious, you really scared me! Or, you don't look scary, or yes, you're _really_ scary. But it's fine either way, I'm sure it wasn't intentional. It's kind of my fault too; I always forget where I am. Hey, I haven't seen you before, are you new here? Well of course you are, you have all your bags with you. Oh my God! I was supposed to show you the school! I'd completely forgotten about that! I'm sorry! I'm Tino by the way, what's your name?

Swedish: ... Do you speak Swedish?

Finnish: ... Oh, you speak Swedish?


	2. Chapter 2

"And that's the kuvataide- I mean Art classroom, and next to it are the music rooms. If you like your hearing the way it is I recommend taking the longer route around, past Math and Physics, on Tuesdays and Thursdays; that's when the bands practice." Berwald walked beside Tino, who seemed to take his mission of introducing the newcomer to the school very seriously, showing him every classroom and cleaning cupboard, all the while babbling on about everything and nothing. He seemed to babble a lot, Berwald noted. Especially when he was nervous or excited about something. And if the most aborable human being ever to walk the Earth thought that cleaning supplies were exciting, then Berwald would happily walk alongside him and hum in agreement every now and then to keep him smiling. Good heavens that smile was so adorable. Berwald felt like he could marry the Finn there and then simply because of that smile.

A sudden light practically blinded him behind his glasses, making him blink several times. He finally managed to adjust his eyes and found they were outside. When did that happen? Tino's beautiful voice, which had been going and going since they had met in the lobby, finally cut through to Berwald. "I'm going to show you the dormitories," he said as he walked them across the asphalt towards another building. He started talking about rules and explaining things about some thing or another, but Berwald could honestly say he was paying very close to no attention to what he was saying.

He was more focused on the one speaking, eyeing his (slightly mismatched) clothes and trying to find something that might hint whether Berwald could ever have a chance. That was a bit harder than it might have seemed, since Berwald had no knowledge of recent trends in Finland. Taking that fact into his calculations, the Swede studied the combination of garments, colours and accessories covering the short blonde.

The fact that he was even wearing bracelets was a pretty good sign in itself, Berwald supposed. The T-shirt with the slightly faded motive on the front was not much of a clue though, neither were the shoes. The shoes did match Tino's eyes, but that might have been unintentional. His jeans on the other hand looked far too tight to be unintended. Tino suddenly turned his head and smiled awkwardly, and Berwald wondered if he had been caught eyeing the other's, rather fine, ass. He let go of that thought when the Finn's movement made one of the few rays of sunlight hit something in Tino's right ear; an earring. A ring. In the right ear. Berwald was probably being ridiculous, getting so worked up over a simple earring; it was a rather old and childish thing anyway, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit more sure about his chances.

"Oh yeah, your roommate had some things to take care of beforehand, so you'll be alone in the room until he gets here. Is that okay?"

Berwald suddenly registered a question had been asked again, and struggled to remember how to speak. "Yeah, that's okay."

"Great! Then I'll show you your room. I think I remember the number..." The Finn trailed off thoughtfully and turned to open the frontdoor.

Alright, Berwald, now we're getting to the things you're actually here for. This is not a High School AU fanfiction, you're not here to fall in love and escape to some southern island together. You're here to study hard to learn new things and holy shit Tino is walking up the stairs, god_damn_ that ass is fine. No, Berwald, stop.

"Okay, here it is! And I even remembered the number!" Tino beamed as he unlocked a door and stepped inside.

Berwald followed, dragging his bags behind him. Wait a second, had he seriously dragged those around the whole school? Wow, he must have looked stupid. He watched Tino as the Finn walked to the window, and found that he really couldn't care less about looking like an idiot.

"Wow, this view's pretty nice!" Indeed it was. Quite splendid, in fact. Berwald blinked and raised his eyes to actually look out the window. He needed to stop. "You got a room where you can see trees! Mine's on the other side of the building, so all I see is concrete and asphalt. It's a shame, I like trees."

The Finn spun around and smiled before walking away from the window. "Sooo, it's Sunday today. And the time is..." Tino paused to check his phone. "About twelve. Which means we have a whole day to waste!" He laughed a little and flopped down onto one of the two beds. "So, what do you want to do?"

Oh, a question again. "Don't know." Yes, that's good. A neutral answer. And now, get to know him by asking about his interests. "How 'bout you?" Wow, was he feeling sociable all of a sudden!

The Finn laughed uncomfortably. "Well, I don't know. I think we have some classes together, so why don't we just... talk and get to know each other a little?"

Berwald shrugged. "Sure." He sat down on the other bed and turned his eyes to Tino, who looked even more uncomfortable than before.

"Um, okay then, uh, what do you think of this place so far? I mean, I know you haven't been here for even a day so I don't even know why I asked that, it was just a really silly question after all, wasn't it?" Tino spoke in a jumble of words. Berwald wasn't sure what he was supposed to answer.

"No, I think it's nice." Berwald thought that Tino seemed very nervous all of a sudden. "And you?" Good job, keep the conversation going!

Tino smiled. "I like it here. I miss my girl though."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, mission abort. Of course the first guy Berwald has ever had a crush on is straight, and of course someone this wonderful has a girlfriend! Why did he ever dare to think otherwise?

"Do you want to see some pictures of her?" asked the Finn, practically bouncing with excitement.

No no no, I don't want to see pictures of your perfect girlfriend! I just want to sink through the ground and never get back up! "Sure." Helvete.

Tino took out his phone and tapped the screen a couple of times before turning the phone so Berwald could see. It turned out he was a bit curious after all. Berwald cast a quick glance at the screen, and quickly looked back with a confused face. "What's that?"

"That's my dog! Isn't she the cutest?" Berwald stared at the photo of the small white dog in disbelief. So, no girlfriend then? Just a dog?

"Her name's Kukkamuna," Tino smiled and patted the picture lovingly with a finger. This was it. This was what it had come to. Berwald Oxenstierna was jealous of a dog. He would have to respond to all of this somehow.

"What does that mean?" Yes, keep up the conversation. You can do it!

Tino seemed to think for a second and then smiled at him. "Flower egg!"

"... That's a pretty weird name." Wait, was that a bad thing to say? He supposed not, since it only made the Finn look thoughtful for a moment.

"I suppose it is. But, there's definitely no one else with the same name!" Berwald really didn't know how to respond to anything this lovely person said. And he thought he may be fine with that.

* * *

Finnish: kuvataide - Art class

The earring thing: A ring in one ear was supposedly used to signal: "Hello, pretty boys, I'm gay!". If it was the left or right ear may vary from place to place, but where I come from it's the right.

Swedish: helvete - hell


End file.
